I'm torn about including Jon Pertwee for the same reason. Everyone already knew he had Bad Motherfarker stamped on the leather of his wallet, they just didn't realize the extent of it until the details were recently declassified

I knew about Stewart and Doohan - hard not to, if you're a fan of them. However, I didn't know about Steve Buscemi's firefighting career, or his staunch support for it - and I liked the fact that he actively discouraged publicity for it, because it's not about limelight. And, the more I learn about Bob Ross, the more I respect the man.

Adding Vidal to that list seems incongruous, however - not that I don't respect his efforts, but that his efforts were vigilante in nature compared to the service of the other four.

True. I didin't even know about all the shiat Durning went through until after he died.

It appears 40% of the list aren't actually soldiers and with all due respect to Bob Ross his entry didn't make any sense. It sounds like he did his job in Alaska (where we don't do USAF basic) and nobody actually spends an entire 20 years as an instructor unless they actually want to be. It's a stepping stone of career advancement for most. Then I went back to the article linked by Cracked and saw that he wasn't a drill sergeant. He was a First Sergeant, which actually makes sense.

The writer is probably too stupid to know the difference since he also didn't know the that firement and street thugs aren't soldiers either.

Our concept of "badass" is often ridiculous. How many of us have actually fought in a war? How many of us are members of a street gang? How many of us have actually got into a serious fight? I wager that none of us have met many true badasses and thus have no realistic concept of what they really resemble.

bifford:Our concept of "badass" is often ridiculous. How many of us have actually fought in a war? How many of us are members of a street gang? How many of us have actually got into a serious fight? I wager that none of us have met many true badasses and thus have no realistic concept of what they really resemble.

My son killed 3 men in combat last year. His patrol got ambushed, one of his Marines got shot, the kid patched him up while getting shot at, then used his own body to shield his patient while returning fire. He's pretty badass for a Sailor.